


knockin' me out with those American thighs

by viperbranium (ViperSeven)



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, because convenient, but like very freeform, i just wanted an excuse to write super badass skinny!Steve sue me, mostly i just used the Drift and the Jaeger tech lmao, shrinkyclinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 01:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13625487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViperSeven/pseuds/viperbranium
Summary: He’d always had a history of sticking his foot in his mouth, and none of the aforementioned things had done his already questionable filter any good, so the words were out of his mouth before he could even think about them.





	knockin' me out with those American thighs

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to put this one up on here before the 2nd movie comes out and fucks up my (very little) plot entirely.  
> 

“Couldn’t this wait until I got out of this suit?” Bucky complained again, for lack of anything better to do, as he followed Natasha across the halls and corridors of the Shatterdome. “You know how uncomfortable this thing is.”  


“Marshal Heimdall gave strict orders to take you to the Red Room the moment you came back,” Natasha replied. “Besides, I never see you whining about the drivesuit whenever that Peter kid is around.”  


Bucky grinned. “He thinks I’m cool,” he told her, smugly. “Gives me extra rations.”  


“And feeds your ego, too; I’ve seen him checking you out. This way,” she said, making a sharp turn.  


“Leave the poor kid alone, he just wants to be a Ranger. We’re not going through the lab?”  


Natasha shook her head. “Tony’s there,” she said. Which meant that rather than it being a shortcut, it’d end up taking them hours to get to the combat room. Bucky loved the guy, but he knew from experience how he got when he found something exciting, and Tony found Bucky’s bionic arm _very_ exciting. Nevermind that he had actually helped design and build the thing.  


“Poor Bruce,” he noted, then asked, “So how good exactly is this guy?”  


If Director Fury and Marshal Heimdall were practically wetting their pants over this, Bucky knew he had to be at least decently good. Strong compatibility was harder to come by these days, with how out of control the war against Hydra had gotten and the huge demand for Jaeger pilots, so nowadays anything above a 70% match was considered safe enough for two pilots with at least some experience to handle, given the circumstances.  


The best Rangers could even work with compatibilities as low as 60%. Bucky had, on occasion. It wasn’t nice, and the extra strain always left him with a monster headache for the next few days, but he could do it if it came down to it.  


The higher-ups hated it too, well aware of how it put their finest fighters at even greater risk, but you didn’t get to be very picky when you were at war. High compatibility meant a very powerful Jaeger, so whenever it was possible they tried to keep the best partners teamed up, but sometimes you needed all the help you could get. Sometimes numbers mattered more than efficiency, and it was better to split up a great couple if it meant you could get two Jaegers out there.  


Natasha was great at that. She was extremely adaptable, and usually managed to be decently compatible with almost anyone, which made her an incredibly valuable fighter.  


Bucky himself was far less adaptable, but he was an exceptional Ranger and had enough experience to be able to compensate for a worse match, if need be.  


These days, though, he usually fought with Sam.  


They were 88% drift compatible, one of the best matches in a long time, which was the only reason why Sam was piloting Jaegers despite how badly he was needed in the medical bay. If Heimdall thought they’d found someone better… well. That was really something.  


“I didn’t stay for his physical, but…” she looked over to him before going on, like she wanted to gauge his reaction. “You’re 99% compatible.”  


Bucky froze.  


“What!?”  


“I know,” Natasha said. “He’s actually a pretty decent match for a lot of people, even without any experience. Very pliable. We scored a 91%.” She shrugged and urged him to keep walking, and then added, smirking, “I’m almost mad you snatched him from me, he’s cute…”  


“But... But a 99% match? That’s—”  


“Unheard of, yes. But Erskine ran the simulations twice. He even switched to your data from before you got the arm, and the guy was able to compensate for it perfectly, didn’t even miss a beat.”  


She was clearly impressed, and if Bucky hadn’t already been having trouble remembering how to form words—because, seriously, 99%? It just seemed too Deus ex Machina to be true—, that alone should’ve said a lot. They walked the rest of the way to the Red Room in silent disbelief, and when they finally arrived Natasha offered him a small smile before opening the doors and stepping inside.  


Bucky spotted Marshal Heimdall and Dr. Erskine right away. Next to them were a tiny, blond kid, and a tall and nicely ripped black man who Bucky thought seemed familiar. He was one of the combat instructors, by the name of Luke Cage, if Bucky remembered correctly, but he’d never mentioned wanting to be a Ranger before that Bucky knew of.  


“Barnes,” the Marshal greeted him, shaking his hand. “Glad to have you back in one piece.” He paused for a second, either to give Bucky a chance to respond or for added dramatic effect, and then added, “Allow me to introduce you to your new co-pilot.”  


Bucky turned towards Luke to shake his hand then, but the blond kid—who up close looked older than he’d initially thought, probably around his own age—had stepped forward, getting in the way.  


In his defense, Bucky really did not mean to be disrespectful. But he was exhausted, and the drivesuit _was_ awfully uncomfortable after this many hours, and not even 5 minutes ago he hadn’t even been aware that matches this strong could be possible, so his brain was still trying to catch up with him. He’d always had a history of sticking his foot in his mouth, and none of the aforementioned things had done his already questionable filter any good, so the words were out of his mouth before he could even think about them.  


“Who’s this shrimp?” he asked.  


He didn’t have time to register everyone else in the room, Natasha included, face-palming. He barely had enough time to see the blond’s face fall, and then morph into anger. He didn’t have time to even start feeling bad about what he’d just said before the air was knocked out of him and he found himself lying on the floor, a bony knee digging into his chest and a thin forearm under his chin, unexpected strength pinning him down.  


“Steve Rogers,” the man said. His tone was harsh but there was a smug smile on his lips, and he had the most incredible blue eyes Bucky’d ever seen. He leaned in closer, pressing himself harder against Bucky, and practically purred against his mouth, “And you must be my co-pilot. Pleasure to meet you.”  


Well, fuck. Bucky was in love.

**Author's Note:**

> The working title for this was "hit me, baby, one more time", but then I was listening to ACDC's Shook me all night long, and that line was just too perfect not to use it, lmao!
> 
> This was meant to be a standalone short fic, but as you might've noticed I threw in some worldbuilding and all. In my head there's even quite a bit of backstory and plot, but I'm not sure I'll ever write a full-length fic for it... The awesome cats at the RBB Slack (*side-eyes Cryo-Bucky and Ellebeesknees in particular*) can be very persuasive, though, so chances are you'll at least get a few more short scenes in this verse such as this one.
> 
> Yeah, okay, I mostly just want to write Bucky seeing Steve in a drivesuit for the first time. Whatever.
> 
> [yell at me on tumblr!](http://viperbranium.tumblr.com)


End file.
